The present invention relates to a compression sack for compactly containing articles, such as clothing or bedclothes, which have been compressed by deaerating the sack.
Compression sacks of this type have been disclosed by Japanese Laid Open Patent Application Nos. 7-9592, 8-268441, and 9-48473. These sacks have an article access port and air outlet provided in a part thereof.
In these prior art compression sacks, articles such as clothing are put into the compression sack; then a zipper on the access port is closed, and the air inside the compression sack is discharged from the air outlet to the outside by pressing the compression sack manually or sucking out the air using a vacuum cleaner. The air outlet is then zipped up to close the compression sack tightly.
If the compression sack containing, e.g., clothing or bedclothes, is deaerated, the air inside the contents will be discharged outside of the sack simultaneously, thus resulting in a decrease in the volume of the contents. Consequently, packing can be made more compact due to the reduction in volume.
However, with such conventional compression sacks, some of the contents may be caught in the air outlet due to suction from the air stream created during deaeration. Additionally, in the compression sack disclosed by the JP ""441, the passage area of the air outlet is coated with adhesive matter which serves as a shut-off valve by channeling the flow of air in the passage. The nature of the air stream may also cause the contents to become polluted by the adhesive matter, depending on the position of the contents.
The present invention is intended to solve these problems.
To overcome the above-noted problems, in a first aspect of the present invention, a compression sack is provided which comprises non-breathable sheets 11, 12. An opening 2 formed in a part of the compression sack 1 includes an access port 21 for articles, an air outlet 22, and closing means 3 provided therein for tight closing and opening. The access port 21 and air outlet 22 are separated by a separating member 4, the front and back sheets 11, 12 of which are firmly joined together. The separating member 4 extends from a side 13 of the opening 2 inwardly of the compression sack 1, thereby forming a deaeration passage 5 between the air outlet 22 and the inside of the compression sack 1. A spot seal 6 is provided more inwardly of the sack than an end (a) at the interior side of the deaeration passage 5.
In a second aspect of the present invention, the compression sack of the first embodiment includes an auxiliary deaeration passage 7 provided more inwardly of the sack than a point where the separating member 4 and the closing means 3 cross each other.
In a third aspect of the present invention, the compression sack of the first or second embodiment contains shut-off seals 8, 8, 8 formed within the deaeration passage 5, and act as labyrinth seams for channeling the flow of air as it exits the deaeration passage 5.
In a fourth aspect of the present invention, the compression sack of the first or second embodiment has a liquid sealing portion 9 formed within the deaeration passage 5.
In a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the compression sack of the first or second embodiment, the separating member 4 is bent at the end (a) of the interior side of the deaeration passage 5 in a direction of the deaeration passage 5.